Newcastle coach Nathan Brown has bemoaned a handful of crucial refereeing decisions that he claims cost his team crucial momentum in Sunday's NRL defeat to Penrith.
In post-game comments that could attract the attention of the governing body, Brown also lamented at what he believes is a lack of 50-50 calls awarded to his team this season.
However he also took aim at his own team, who completed less than half their 13 sets in the second half to watch a 14-point lead evaporate in the space of 16 minutes.
"When you're the underdog and paying $5 with the bookies, they don't land your way very often. Very rarely do they come your way, and that's the reality of where we're at the moment," Brown said.
"We've got to get better at how we regain some ascendancy and how we get momentum back from the opposition. That's a part that we've got to get better at," Brown said.
"In saying that, I think we're 29 play-the-balls in the second half to their 70. Fatigue plays a big part in it as well, that fatigue factor obviously hurts a lot.
"If we'd gone 50-50 in the second half, I think everyone would agree, we win that game."
The second-year Knights mentor took particular exception to two decisions either side of halftime that could have had major ramifications on the result.
With his team leading 14-0, the home side looked to have come up with a killer blow when they pounced on a drop ball Panthers winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak close to his line.
However, despite replays suggesting otherwise, Mitchell Barnett was penalised for a strip.
Brown also cried foul at a forward pass call that prevented Brock Lamb from being in the clear in the opening set of the second half.
"I thought the call before halftime on Mitch Barnett with the strip was poor - I thought we'd forced the issue there and that was a loose carry," he said.
"Then after halftime we make a line break and that's not a forward pass. The referees have responded to the media this week where everyone's been cracking down on forward passes.
"That was a bad, bad call. We never had the ball for 20 minutes then and that had a big impact on the game. I'm not trying to make any excuses but that was a bad call and a bad impact."
Share
